Leeds United 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers - recap: Player ratings and reaction from Elland Road draw

Leeds United host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon at Elland Road - follow every kick with the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Leeds United take on Wolves at Elland Road.Leeds United take on Wolves at Elland Road.
Leeds United take on Wolves at Elland Road.

Marcelo Bielsa's side are back in top flight action today as they search for a second win of the season in the top flight.

United have been hit by somewhat of an injury-crisis and will only welcome back Raphinha from their absentee list last week at Southampton.

Follow our pre-match build-up, in-game updates and post-match reaction below:

Leeds United v Wolves - LIVE BLOG

Key Events

  • Leeds United host Wolves at Elland Road
  • Whites searching for second Premier League win
  • Wolves have won three in a row
  • Kick-off at Elland Road is at 3pm
  • FULL-TIME: Leeds United 1-1 Wolves

Good afternoon... and welcome to today’s live blog from Elland Road.

Leeds United return to Premier League action against Wolves in LS11 searching for a second top flight win of the campaign.

We’ll have all the pre-match build-up, in-game updates and post-match reaction right here.

Early Leeds United team news

Raphinha is back and available for selection after being left out against Southampton following international duty.

Kalvin Phillips is fit following a calf and hip issue but won’t be rushed back by Marcelo Bielsa.

Patrick Bamford (ankle), Luke Ayling (knee), Junior Firpo (muscle) and Robin Koch (hip) are all in the treatment room.

Early Wolves team news

Wolves boss Bruno Lage has confirmed that Barcelona loanee Franciso Trincao has trained all week having completed his period of quarantine after a positive test for coronavirus.

However, Lage has also revealed that Ivory Coast international Willy Boly will miss the trip to West Yorkshire, joining longer term absentees Pedro Neto (patella fracture), Yerson Mosquera (hamstring) and Jonny (knee) on the sidelines.

Leeds United’s predicted line-up

YEP XI: Meslier; Shackleton, Llorente, Cooper, Dallas; Forshaw; Klich; James, Raphinha; Roberts; Rodrigo.

What Marcelo Bielsa has said

“There’s a phrase that I read not so long ago, that teams are made out of crystal,” Bielsa said ahead of Wolves.

“It’s difficult to make them solid but they break from one day to the other. So we played our best game of the season against Watford and the worst against Southampton.

“More than whether the opponents were better or worse, teams change frequently, so what is it that allows a loss of form for a team to recover quickly. The amount of work that is accumulated, and the fortitude spiritually of the group to accept the difficulties.

“There are groups that in the face of difficulties, they move away, they don’t want to belong to something that’s not going through an attractive moment and there’s other groups that are coming together where they belong to and they make the maximum efforts, to modify the realities that affect their people, their club and their fans. And the challenge for a coach in the adversity is to try and find this type of feeling.”

What Bruno Lage has said

“I met Marcelo at the beginning of the season when we had a manager meeting,” Lage said. “I spoke with him for five minutes and we spoke about my player at Benfica, Helder Costa. And the way he talked about him, it looks like he’s a real gentleman.

“He’s a real gentleman outside of football and in football he’s a brilliant mind who thinks of football in his own way. When you have the chance to see his lectures and when you have the chance to analyse his team, the way he plays, you’re going to play against a strong opponent.

“From my point of view here when I study the team’s first I want to see how they are defending. If they run or not and when you look at Leeds you see they run, they press, they press high and they press as soon as possible.

“The other thing is to look at how they attack and if they want the ball or to only have two or three touches. When you look for Leeds you can see they do both very good. Tomorrow we’re going to play against a strong team.

“It’s going to be a pleasure to play against Bielsa, because when you look for the team you can learn a lot of things; the way he moves, the way he wants his team to play and in this way it’s going to be a strong challenge for us.”

A familiar face will be watching

Marcelo Bielsa’s programme notes

“We had the capability [against Southampton] and conditions to play a more even game than we did and we’re sorry we couldn’t reward the fans in attendance who made the long journey.

“This afternoon’s opponents Wolves have established themselves as a Premier League team over the last few years.

“They have a number of talented players, with many now experienced at this level. Their head coach Bruno Lage has brought new ideas following his appointment in the summer and they visit us in a good moment, on the back of three straight victories.

“I’m sure they will have a lot of confidence, too, following their late comeback victory against Aston Villa.

“For us, as always though, we will be looking to win the game in front of our home supporters.”

Liam Cooper’s captain’s notes

Writing in the match-day programme, United captain Liam Cooper said: “We’ve spent a lot of time analysing the Southampton match and we’ve had a hard week of training at Thorp Arch in preparation for this afternoon.

“Over recent years, whenever we have had a negative result or performance, we have nearly always been able to show a reaction and bounce back in the following games and it is important we do that again now.”

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